Posted by:
tapirbackrider
(
)
Date: August 18, 2011 05:56AM
The best way to learn a language is to learn the basic structures. In essence, you have to know the verb very well. Once you know the verb, the rest follows. For example
I speak
I am speaking
I was speaking
I spoke
I used to speak
I will speak
I should speak
I must speak
I can speak
I could speak
If I spoke
If I had spoken
I could have spoken
I would have spoken
I might have spoken
If you can't say these or the equivalent in your target language, you are effectively a Tarzan. (of course, in some languages, I speak, I am speaking is the same, etc.). I have used this way to learn various languages and I never went on any mission. I am currently in Thailand, learning Thai.
Of course, there is also adjustments. If you learn a language like Finnish, you also have to learn noun phrases (pienässä kylässä, suomalaista silliä, etc. pardon my spelling mistakes if there are any, it has been a while with Finnish) or if you are studying a language like Russian, you have to know how to work with all the declensions. In Chinese and Thai, you have to master the tones and deal with measure words.
Finally, you have to learn vocabulary systematically. The best is to learn in word families. In the meantime, you have to learn chunks of the language for everyday conversation. (Il n'y a pas de quoi, es tut mir leidt, mai pen rai, mei you guanxi, não faz mal, da igual, etc.) Finally, it is best to start reading stuff that you are interested in your new language. I don't like Rosetta stone but I do like the old FSI language courses. They rock.
Just my point of view